Childproof Your Home From These 5 HVAC Hazards

Parents who want to keep their children safe at home often overlook their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

There are numerous ways children can get injured in connection with these complex systems, but the following five are some of the most common.

1. Improperly Secured HVAC Vents

Vents that are not properly secured can be a very real hazard to children of all ages. Sometimes the vent grates aren’t installed correctly. Toys can easily be dropped through them, and little hands can get caught in them or cut on them. Make sure vent covers are adequately secured.  Repair any bent, broken, or missing vents.

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2. Outdoor HVAC Units 

Outdoor HVAC units are a danger to young ones. They’re full of sharp edges that can cut and scratch, wires full of high-powered electricity, and vents that can snag.  Make sure outdoor units are either fenced off or surrounded by shrubs, and let children know not to play on or around HVAC units, especially during repair, installation, or service. 

3. HVAC Unit That Needs Service or Repair

HVAC units in need of repair often pose the greatest risk to children. Some units might look old or battered. Some might have been damaged in an accident. There are often numerous signs that a unit is in need of repair or malfunctioning, ranging from strange rattling sounds or pools of standing water or a strange smell like gas. Any of these signs should be a wakeup call to get in touch with a professional for service immediately. If you see a unit like this, make sure to let everyone, especially children, know to stay away from them until the issues are repaired.

4. Poorly Installed Window Units

Improperly installed window units are a common cause of accidents in the home. If they’re not properly braced underneath, they can topple over if pulled from the outside. And if they’re not installed correctly with the right support, they can easily be pushed out from the inside by even little hands. It’s also imperative to determine whether a window unit is draining correctly. Otherwise, it could be causing serious structural damage to the building or create a potentially lethal situation with a pool of electrified standing water.

5. Failing to Keep Up With Routine Maintenance on HVAC Units

Make sure your HVAC unit is not leaking potentially lethal carbon monoxide gas — get your unit inspected by a licensed professional annually. Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the most common HVAC safety concerns.  More than 150 people a year die from non fire-related carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s easy to prevent — simply make sure that you have a working carbon monoxide unit in your home, and remember to test it as recommended by the manufacturer.

Most of the common HVAC hazards are quite preventable.  Use common sense, and make sure everything looks, sounds, and smells right. Make sure that your HVAC unit receives preventative maintenance regularly by a trained professional.  That will ensure that you won’t run into any nasty surprises.

Your HVAC system is crucial to keeping you warm in the winter and cool in the summer and for circulating clean, healthy air throughout your home. A well-functioning HVAC system will not only save you money on your monthly utility bills but can also help prevent costly repairs. 

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Here are 5 reasons you shouldn’t put off HVAC maintenance:

1. Maintain Efficiency

An efficient HVAC system functions at peak levels throughout the year. To keep your system running in tip-top shape, get your HVAC system regularly maintained by a qualified HVAC service professional. Regular maintenance helps your system run as efficiently as possible, which in turn lowers monthly utility costs. An efficient system is good for your wallet as well as your health.

2. Breathe Healthy Air

Clean HVAC filters and coils means cleaner air for you and your family. An unmaintained HVAC system is susceptible to dirt, mold, and bacteria. Without a properly cleaned and serviced system, that dirt, mold, and bacteria can travel through your HVAC system and circulate through the house. Unhealthy air can cause respiratory problems, especially in those who are more sensitive to air conditions, such as children, the elderly, and people who already have health issues. Regular maintenance will keep your HVAC system clean and running smoothly.

3. Prevent Costly Repairs

Like keeping a car in good shape or taking care of your own health, preventative care can help prevent bigger issues in the future. When performing a regular maintenance check on your HVAC system, a professional may find a small issue that, if left unchecked, could cause a major problem a few months down the road. Preventative care is often less expensive than dealing with an emergency that could disable your entire system.

4. Keep Your System Running When It Matters Most

While there is never a great time for HVAC issues, they are particularly unsavory when the outside elements are harsh. You don’t want to find yourself with a broken heating system in the dead of winter. Losing your air conditioning on a 100-degree summer day is also challenging. By undergoing regular maintenance, you lower your risk of a catastrophic failure through the rest of the year.

5. Extend the Life of Your System

Replacing your HVAC system can be expensive, so make the most of your current investment by getting regular maintenance performed. Regular maintenance, in addition to helping to prevent costly repairs and catastrophic failures, will also help to extend the life of your system. A qualified HVAC service professional can look for preventative fixes as well as test the load on your existing system to make sure it’s not being overtaxed. With a bit of care up front, your HVAC system will be running efficiently, and the stresses on the system’s individual components will be less. 

Your HVAC system helps keep you comfortable year-round. With consistent maintenance from a qualified HVAC service professional, you can extend the life of your system and keep it running efficiently for many years to come.

How Healthy is Your Air Conditioning Unit? 4 Ways to Find Out

As homeowners, we are responsible for maintaining a comfortable and safe space for our loved ones. While good cleaning habits and routine upkeep go a long way, don’t forget that the less-visible features of your house also need attention. Your air conditioning system is responsible for filtering and circulating the air your family breathes, and if it’s not functioning properly, it can pose significant health risks. But don’t panic; evaluating the condition of your home’s system is relatively simple.

Get to Know Your Air Conditioning System

As a first step, identify your AC unit’s make and age. A system’s age is important: The U.S. Department of Energy recommends replacing units every 10 years for maximum energy efficiency. But older systems are also more likely to develop leaks and accumulate contaminants like mold and mildew. Left unchecked, circulating particles of mold can activate allergies and irritate delicate membranes in the nose and ears, even to the point of bleeding. If more than one of your family members start to develop a cough this summer, an elderly air conditioning system may be to blame.

Pay Attention to the Refrigerant

Innovations in air conditioning technology mean safer and more efficient solutions for your home, but you’re responsible for making sure your installation is up to snuff. In recent years, manufacturers have begun to replace certain industrial refrigerants with less hazardous, more environmentally-friendly alternatives, and the United States has restricted the import of certain chemical compounds altogether.

Check the informational label on the outside of your compressor — older refrigerants will be identified with names like “HCFC-2” or “R-22”. Certified technicians must replace outdated systems with newer installations, but the upgrade is safer as well as more cost-efficient.

Check Your Filters Regularly

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Your unit may use disposable or washable air filters, but in either case, they must be changed on a regular basis. Set a schedule and stick to it. Dirty filters and unclean ductwork not only inhibit the circulation of air inside the home, they can also let in dangerous pesticides and allergens from the outdoors. Poorly-circulated, polluted air negatively impacts everyone in the house, including pets, but can be a downright health risk for young children, the elderly, and anyone with underlying respiratory issues (such as asthma.)

Preventative Maintenance Is a Must

Don’t make the mistake of waiting for your system to become a problem: Get professional eyes on your system early. Although homeowners can check some aspects of their HVAC unit on their own, all air conditioning installations require regular maintenance and evaluation by licensed repairmen. A good certified technician will look at your system’s ductwork, electrical wiring, compressor operation, and circuit boards, among other components. They should also carry out a thorough and detailed cleaning and perform repairs where necessary. A reliable annual service plan ensures that issues with your system are identified before your family’s health gets involved.

When it comes to the air your family breathes, routine observation and maintenance can mean the prevention of everything from headaches and fatigue to serious upper respiratory infections. Using these four simple steps as a guide, become familiar with your air conditioning system, its components, and a trustworthy technician; the return in air quality, comfort, and savings is more than worth it.

For homeschooling families, each day comes with a unique set of opportunities and challenges. In most cases, the challenges come from outside the realm of education. From finding quiet time for yourself and your child to managing your home and social life, it can certainly be an uphill battle to stay focused on your goals.

Here are a few things that homeschooling families should consider to make sure everyone finds a positive life balance.

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Manage Your Busy Schedule

Being your child’s teacher, coach, driver, and parent is a full-time job, but what about all of life’s other tasks? Finding ways to manage your schedule and reducing stress is key to providing a sustainable homeschooling environment. 

Set a structure for your curricula ahead of time. While most public school students attend classes for six hours or more each day, a homeschooled child receives more focused attention. This means that each day is different, and so some states also allow fewer daily hours. As your child ages, online courses and independent learning can free up additional time.

Setting schedules and expectations early and often helps create a consistent and fulfilling experience for both you and your child.

Keep Your Home Clean

Naturally, homeschooling families spend a great deal more time within their own four walls. This additional time at home brings added traffic, dust, rubbish, and an increased use of appliances. It’s easy to see how clutter can get out of hand. What most don’t consider is the additional exposure that homeschool families have to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are found in ordinary household cleaners. These harmful contaminants can cause respiratory health issues, particularly during prolonged exposure.

To more safely manage your home cleaning, keep a visible calendar or chore chart to make sure that all areas of the home get cleaned regularly. Create daily and weekly checklists for each member of your household so that everyone is helping out. You can reduce your exposure to VOCs by eliminating aerosol or spray cleaners and by having an HVAC expert install air handlers to deliver clean air into your home and remove the pollutants.

Don’t Forget to Socialize

Homeschooling provides an incredible opportunity to focus on your child’s education and life experiences, but you must also find time for your child to socialize. There are many places that provide safe social environments for your child to interact with others, including local homeschooling groups, extracurricular activities offered by your school district, libraries, and parks. These outings not only stimulate your child in new and creative ways that the home classroom may not provide, but it also allows you the opportunity to meet new people and share thoughts and experiences with other homeschooling families.

Instead of overwhelming your family and your schedule, look to double your efforts by combining chores and errands with social outings. Visit the grocery store and work on a budgeting lesson with your child. This venue is a great place to socialize with members of your community, and you can tackle that grocery list at the same time. 

Homeschooling can be a blessing for both child and parent. Taking the time to create a healthy, schedule that benefits your entire family gives you the best opportunity to be successful.

You Can Find Relief From Anxiety in a New, All Natural Fashion

If you suffer from chronic anxiety, you should be aware that there are alternatives to the traditional, chemical-based medicines. A whole new generation of all natural health supplements, such as RediCalm, have been recently introduced on the market place. These supplements contain nothing but natural, completely organic ingredients in place of the chemical compounds that earlier generations of medicines made use of. The result has been an appreciable increase in relief from anxiety symptoms. Millions of people all around the world have been enjoying a whole new level of respite from anxiety.

The Combination of All Natural Ingredients Makes For Serious Anxiety Relief

A whole new generation of anxiety relief supplements, such as Nutreance’s RediCalm, have been created in order to bring lasting relief for the symptoms of this disorder. At the same time, a whole new emphasis on the underlying causes of anxiety has also been achieved. This means that the new line of health supplements has been created with an eye toward not only calming down your symptoms but also penetrating further down into the roots of this condition. By doing so, a whole new level of effectiveness has been reached. The idea is to extend this effectiveness even further in the near future.

Creating Supplements With All Natural Ingredients Is the Key to Relief

By attempting to pinpoint the causes of anxiety, this research has been able to create a new line of supplements that is able to give much more lasting relief from this sadly mysterious and chronic condition. The results speak for themselves. People have reported amazing levels of relief that have allowed them to regain their full share of health, happiness, and independence. If anxiety is seriously interfering with your ability to enjoy the full quality of life, now is the time to do something about it. You owe it to yourself to at least try this new line of all natural, completely organic supplements.

Healthy Exercise Is an Excellent Alternative to Chemically Based Supplements

You should note that exercise is also very highly recommended while you are taking the new generation of all natural, fully organic anxiety relief supplements. Instead of relying on cold, artificial anxiety medications, why not do something to get your spirits flowing upward? This is something that you can do for yourself that does not involve taking medications that are filled with all manner of inorganic substances. A daily regimen of healthy exercise can give you a whole new outlook on life. You can really get your positive attitude back in a big way just by deciding to move about.

It All Comes Down to Your Willingness to Try Something Completely New

If the thought of doing a few healthy exercises excites you, this is an excellent sign. It means that you are open to trying a few completely new approaches to help reduce and relieve your anxiety symptoms. This is exactly the spirit in which the new line of healthy, all natural anxiety relief supplements have been created. By applying a whole new philosophy to their work, the people who have researched and developed this new line of supplements have managed to achieve a very important breakthrough. Organic, all natural supplements are the future of the industry.

Shopping for Easter gifts for the people you care about can be a lot of fun. However, it can also be quite expensive if you allow yourself to get carried away. You might end up with a massive credit card bill that you did not count on. This is why you need to be very smart and think carefully at all times when you are shopping for Easter gifts. Making people feel good by giving them gifts is always a wonderful thing. However, you should avoid going broke while you are doing it.

Here are some methods that can be used to save you cash while you are shopping for Easter gifts online.

1. Check for any sites that sell Easter gifts that are having sales.

Smart shoppers will always search for sales before they start spending any money. This is not a hard thing to do if you know how to use a search engine to properly filter the results. Online retailers are always having various sales. Therefore, it would be worth your while to search for sales at some of your favorite sites on a regular basis. You never know what type of amazing bargain you might come across if you are very persistent in your deal hunting.

2. Get an early start on all of your Easter gift shopping.

People who wait until the last minute to do all of their Easter gift shopping are the ones who end up paying more than they should. This is because time is running out and they are desperate for gifts. Therefore, they have no choice but to pay the prices that the online retailers are charging. Retailers will often jack up their prices around the holidays. This means that doing your gift shopping long before Easter will enable you to take advantage of some great deals. Basically, you should always be on the lookout for great Easter gifts throughout the course of the entire year.

3. Look at sites that offer coupon codes.

Coupon codes are basically online coupons that can allow you to save a considerable amount of money when you are shopping for Easter gifts. People who shop regularly online use coupon codes to their advantage. You should do the same thing. Talk to some of your friends who are more savvy about online shopping than you are. With any luck, they might be able to send you in the direction of several good sites that offer coupon codes. These sites change the coupon codes they offer very frequently. Therefore, it would be in your best interests to check back every few days to see if any new coupon codes have been added since the last time you were there.

4. Pay close attention to how much you are paying for shipping.

Shopping for Easter gifts online means that the cost of shipping could come into the equation. Sadly, many people do not pay any attention to what they are being charged for shipping when they are shopping online. They simply click to complete their order without giving the shipping charges a second thought. However, this is a huge issue that you need to be aware of in order to save money. Do all of your Easter gift shopping with online retailers that do not overcharge you for shipping. Sweetbasket.com will send Easter gift baskets anywhere in Toronto for a reasonable price.

5. Look for sites that have customer rewards programs.

Another way to save a lot of money when doing your Easter gift shopping online is to seek out sites that will reward you for shopping there. A customer rewards program is a great way for you to get lots of free stuff for buying the same things you normally do. You sign up for the customer rewards program at an online retailer. They will usually give you a number that you enter during checkout. You can then accumulate points with every purchase you make. The points can be used to get free items that each have a specific point value assigned to them. You would be wise to take some time and search for sites that offer these programs.